tartrazine/lexers/properties.xml

<lexer>
  <config>
    <name>properties</name>
    <alias>java-properties</alias>
    <filename>*.properties</filename>
    <mime_type>text/x-java-properties</mime_type>
  </config>
  <rules>
    <state name="root">
      <rule pattern="^([ \t\f]*)([#!].*)">
        <bygroups>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="CommentSingle"/>
        </bygroups>
      </rule>
      <rule pattern="^([ \t\f]*)(\S+?)([ \t\f]*)([=:])([ \t\f]*)(.*(?:(?&lt;=\\)\n.*)*)">
        <bygroups>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="NameAttribute"/>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="Operator"/>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="LiteralString"/>
        </bygroups>
      </rule>
      <rule pattern="^([ \t\f]*)(\S+)([ \t\f]+)(.*(?:(?&lt;=\\)\n.*)*)">
        <bygroups>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="NameAttribute"/>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="LiteralString"/>
        </bygroups>
      </rule>
      <rule pattern="^([ \t\f]*)(\w+)$">
        <bygroups>
          <token type="Text"/>
          <token type="NameAttribute"/>
        </bygroups>
      </rule>
       <rule pattern="\n">
        <token type="Text"/>
      </rule>
    </state>
  </rules>
</lexer>